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Basu plans film on Bihar's 'Super 30'

Basking in the glory of Ranbir Kapoor-starrer "Barfi!", based on a strong narrative, Bollywood director Anurag Basu is now said to be set to helm an issue-based film on Bihar's innovative educational coaching institute 'Super 30', and its founder Anand Kumar.

For the last 10 years, Kumar has been grooming talented students from underprivileged families for the highly competitive Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE).
The film "will make a great story of how students from poor families turn a new leaf with just the right opportunity - something even reservation and other incentives have not been able to do", sources close to Basu said.

Basu has met Anand Kumar and talked to him. According to sources, if it comes through, Ranbir, who has essayed a deaf and mute boy in Basu's "Barfi!", could be playing the lead role of Anand Kumar in this venture.

"Both Basu and Ranbir Kapoor have quietly been researching the life of Anand Kumar, how he has been keeping 30 students every year and grooming them at his own cost for over a decade, his style of teaching," they said.

Basu had also visited Patna to spend time with Anand Kumar to understand how he works and the extent of the man's reach in the field of mathematics.

The acclaimed director has already collected enough information on Anand Kumar, including his research work published in international journals and the success of his students.

"Anurag Basu has also talked to Ranbir Kapoor about Anand. He has seen Anand and has a definite plan. Only time will tell when he executes it. It may be next on line," a close friend of Basu here, who helped him meet Anand Kumar, said.

Incidentally, a lot of Amitabh Bachchan's character in Prakash Jha's "Aarakshan" was modelled on Anand Kumar. Jha had in fact taken Kumar's help for moulding the character of Big B in the film and also recorded his lectures.

Amitabh, during his Patna visit, also met Anand Kumar and acknowledged, how he watched his teaching methods.

'Super 30', which provides free food, stay and coaching for nearly a year to selected students from poor backgrounds to crack IIT-JEE, has drawn global attention.

Thanks to it, this year, the sons of a daily wage labourer, a security guard, a grocer, a marginal farmer and a truck mechanic were among the 27 students from 'Super 30', who cracked IIT-JEE.

Having failed to pursue his dream of studying in Cambridge due to acute financial problems, Anand set up 'Super 30' to help poor students. His facility provides free residential coaching to poor students.

Under the programme, 263 students have so far made it to the prestigious IITs.